The situation room beneath the West Wing had hosted difficult conversations before.
This one was different.
Not because the stakes were higher than they'd faced before—though they were—but because every person in the room had read the same document and arrived at the same conclusion independently before anyone had spoken a word.
There was no move.
The National Security Advisor, Patricia Yuen, opened without preamble. "The recruitment announcement went live more than twelve hours ago. As of thirty minutes ago, we have confirmed that at least forty-seven American citizens with relevant medical or culinary credentials have already submitted applications. We did not know they were applying. We had no advance notice. We have no mechanism to have known."
Secretary of Defense Harold Briggs set his copy of the printed announcement on the table. "Define relevant credentials."
